Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Black Joining The Ranks Of White: Black Slaveowning In 1800s South Carolina, Zachary M. Saddow

Graduate Theses

Exploring the lives and impact of the Black slaveholders in Antebellum South Carolina is a highly overlooked subject in a sensitive area. The idea of a Black slaveholder stands contrary to the widely held belief of slavery held by a majority in the United States. This realization is also startling as most slaveholders were White, with those in bondage being Black. These Black slaveholders actively took part in the system of slavery including the buying and selling of slaves, the production of cash crops, and even support for the eventual Confederacy. Although many began their life in chains, Black future …

Inner Portraits, Bethany Salisbury

Graduate Theses

This paper investigates the many interconnected layers of women’s mental health through portraiture and how animal and plant symbolism can represent the way women's hormones and bodily health affect their mental health. I reveal how the artwork created presents these connections and inner mental health narratives to the viewer, creating a space of empathy, destigmatization, and self-reflection. This body of portraiture art connects five women through a series of both two-and three-dimensional portraits based on interviews using my own adaptation of Sara Lawrence-Lightfoots’ (1983) portrait methodology.

Women and non-binary individuals have always dealt with difficult interactions of bodily and mental …

Community In The Cell: Queer Women’S Space And Place In New Orleans, Jordan Hammon, Jordan Hammon

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines queer women’s history and space/places of community in New Orleans using spatial analysis and feminist theory to fill the silences. The Special Citizens Committee for the Vieux Carré laid the foundation for regulating queer women and transmasculine people starting in the 1950s. Even after the committee ended, New Orleans Police Department and the Vice Squad had the power to invade and harass places of community for queer women and transmasculine people. Despite this hostility, queer women and transmasculine people resisted and made a place for themselves in New Orleans. As a result of their persistence through visibility …

U.S.-China Trade War: Phase One Agreement And Self-Enforcing Contracts, Hameedullah Hassani

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Sino-American bilateral trade relations have increased significantly in the past four decades since China started its economic reforms in 1978. The bilateral expansion in trade has been accompanied by increased complexity and tensions, which emerged in the form of a trade war during the President Trump administration. After a series of tit-for-tat tariff increases, in an attempt to address concerns through negotiations, both sides reached a Phase One agreement. However, the commitments made in the agreement were not delivered. In my thesis, I use the “self-enforcing contracts” theory to analyze the status of Phase One deal. The examination indicates that …

Preparing Teachers For Integrating Visual Arts For Academic Success Of Elementary School Students, Jennifer Roux

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The majority of people agree that students’ education should provide them with the essential skills to be successful in the 21st-century workforce. Although these same sets of skills are commonly practiced through the process of making art, art education continues to hold an inferior status in schools. This disconnection raises the question, what has led to the devaluation of art in academics? This senior capstone will explore how teachers are prepared to integrate visual arts into the classroom. Through the use of a literature review, interviews with three in-service teachers, and a survey of students majoring in Liberal Studies at …

Media Analysis And Journalistic Applications, Jose Villasenor Cervantes

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Media has been a part of our lives now for a better part of over a century or more. From newspapers, radio, tv, film, music. All of these have impacted our lives since their creation and have influenced our society for better or worse for educational or not so educational purposes. Media in all of its aspects have been around for many years and that has translated to every part of our society. We see a film and we quickly talk about its whether it was good or bad but we analyze it. This goes for everyone from children to …

At Least Eight Poems, Stone Mcdonald

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This reflective essay displays the super thematic theme that's clearly present on this project. It is at least eight poems, and you cannot dispute that claim. This project clearly was made to satisfy those college requirements, but I will admit that its theme is merely the theme of Stone. It is a sample of my perception, a slippery path that directs readers into my creative process and brisk way of thinking. If you ever get confused about what you’re reading, just remember, it all falls under the theme of stone; the rock without surface, clearly with depth. It’s a theme …

Heavy And Hateful: Growth Of White Supremacy And Neo-Nazism In Skinhead Punk And Black Metal, Kevin Grether

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper explores the presence of White Supremacists, racists and neo-Nazis within the genres and associated subcultures of skinhead punk and black metal. It discusses the history of both genres and how specific events and subcultural aspects contributed to the growth in both number and influence of racist actors in each scene. It also discusses the ways in which that racism manifests within the music itself as a means of fascist recruitment and propaganda, using examples taken from specific popular racist artists.

Derailed Fortunes: California's Forgotten Railroad, Alexis Depaolis

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

At a mahogany bar in Collins Saloon of San Francisco’s Montgomery Street, a successful businessman James G. Fair traced a trail of water droplets for his partner Alfred E. Davis to create the map of a visionary rail line soon to be known as the South Pacific Coast. Using historical records and photographs compiled by a selection of local authors and historians, this non-fiction retelling of Davis’ experience highlights the tribulations and triumphs of the most successful narrow gauge line in California history in order to share a largely forgotten but crucial aspect of local industrial archeology, as well as …

Hispanic Human Capital And Financial Aid Application In The West Census Region, Benjamin Lundy-Paine

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

As of 2021, very few Hispanic residents in the United States held a college degree in comparison to non-Hispanic residents. Research has shown that, particularly for Hispanic students, financial aid increases college persistence. Hispanic Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) submission rates rank among the lowest, preventing many Hispanic students from receiving financial assistance. This issue is most prevalent West Census Region (WCR), where there is the highest concentration of Hispanic residents. To understand what barriers may be preventing Hispanic submission in the WCR this Capstone used logistic regression models to analyze student-level data from the National Center for …

The Civil War Conflict Between Anglophones/Francophones In The Northwest And Southwest Regions Of Cameroon, Myriam Jeter

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

The Civil War conflict between Anglophones and Francophones, also known as the Ambazonia war, is a long-standing issue that continues to plague the people living in the Northwest and Southwest regions of Cameroon. This paper explores the colonial history of the nation, the cause of the ongoing conflict, the reasons for its escalation, and how it gave rise to the Ambazonian separatists who want to have a separate nation called the Ambazonia Republic.

This study contributes to conflict understanding in two ways. First, it sheds light on the cultural and economic impacts of internally generated crises in a country. Second, …

The Effects Of Gender On Students’ Learning, Savannah Mansfield

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

There are many struggles students face when pursuing an education. These barriers often leave students weary and disheartened, dreading the seven hours a day they are forced to spend at an institution that does not value their needs or identity. This paper will focus on how gender affects students’ learning in schools. In particular, it will discuss the sexualization of feminine-presenting students, the assumption of violence in masculine-presenting students, and the failure to provide safe and inclusive environments for gender-nonconforming students. All of this will be examined through the lens of gender’s effect on relationships within the education system, as …

Stories Of A Queer Femme, Parker Jones

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

“Stories of a Queer Femme” is a collection of poems about my experience being queer and non-binary while still presenting very feminine. The poems explore growing up, experiencing love, and accepting my life while outside of the gender binary. This collections reveals the course theme of hidden histories: We have always been here. We will always be here. Our lives and our stories matter.

The Pinocchio Boy: A Collection Of Queer Creative Written Work, Lucas Olvera

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Pinocchio Boy is a series of short stories/memoirs and poems about my experiences as a Transgender and Gay man. Structured in five parts, I explore my childhood, young adulthood, and adulthood. My collection offers me an insight into what made me who I am today. There are drastic tonal shifts between the poem segments and the memoirs, I intended to act as the narrator of my story in which the poems and dialogue act as the characters in motion and the memoirs as my direct narration. A tongue-in-cheek fairy tale tone, but coming from a sincere place. My intent …

Taxonomic Analysis Of Video Game Instrument Usages, Jack Madison

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This paper seeks to break down into categories the various ways in which video games utilize instruments and to determine the musicality of these interactions.

The Chicken’S Too Fat To Cross The Road: Ethical Issues And Dangers Pertaining To Factory Farms, Michael J. Martinus

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

In the mid-20th century, the meat industry implemented a method of rearing livestock called factory farming, which confined animals in close quarters until it was time for slaughter and allowed for more output with cheaper production methods. In modern-day unfortunately, factory farming is still used and treats their animals even worse; genetically modifying chickens until they can’t walk, the unrelenting impregnation of dairy cows, and forcing pigs to live in their own feces. Companies such as Tyson and JBS control about 85% of the meat industry and since their goal is to make the most profit with the least effort, …

Decolonizing Chinese Literary And Cultural Studies In “World Literature”: Decolonial Translation And Magical-Traumatic Realism In Can Xue, Deanna Ren

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This study takes a genealogical and historicized approach to Mandarin-to-English translations, including my own, of Can Xue through neoliberal discourses of “world literature.” I ground these Anglophone discourses in the legacies of Sinology, area studies and post-Cold War historiography. Arguing for the necessity of a decolonial translation practice in Mandarin-to-English translation, I propose magical-traumatic realism (an intersection of magical realism and traumatic realism) as an alternative lens with which to contextualize, decolonize and re-embody Can Xue’s works in both source and “world” contexts.

Crafting Journalism: The Pseudonyms Of American Reform, Sierra Fishman

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The late 19th and early 20th centuries in the United States saw the rise of "Stunt Girls" and "Sob Sisters" in journalism. These pioneering women defied traditional societal expectations of housewives and pursued careers in reporting, gaining recognition for their accomplishments through the dangerous nature of their work. While many may know the name Nellie Bly, the pseudonym for Elizabeth Jane Cochrane, other reporters played a vital role in the transformation of journalism, including Caloipe, Nellie Bly, Lola, Annie Laurie, Dorothy Dix, Enid, Eva Gay, Nora Marks, Girl Reporter, Nell Nelson, Grace Ermine, Meb, and Olivia. It is important to …

Your Country Needs You (And Also Your Resources) Britain And Her Colonies During And Shortly After Ww2, Anthony-Noel Cepe

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

No conflict has shaped the modern world more thoroughly than the Second World War. However, the retelling of this era, whether through mass media or more scholarly works such as books and journal articles, is one seen through a white, Eurocentric lens. This is strange; as the name implies, the Second World War was a truly global conflict, involving not only the major world powers at the time, but also their subjects. Great Britain was no exception; far from the popular image of it standing alone in the face of Nazi tyranny, the island nation drew vast amounts of men …

Ga(Y)Zing Backward: Queer Desire In Ovid, Shakespeare, And Scaimma, Falynn Blayre Brickler

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

As Ovidian myth is a central influence on queer stories throughout time, I am interested in how the female/sapphic gaze impacts the retellings of these narratives. In this thesis, I analyze the action of the gaze as an expression of desire and discuss its multiple meanings in both text and performance. Through tracing the gaze within the queer/sapphic narratives of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, I show that the gaze is an intersecting act through which non-normative desire is conveyed. In constructing the gaze as an ephemeral action of queer desire in practice, I …

Four Junes, Sara Brown

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Four Junes is a poetry collection of elegies and pastoral elegies that aims to discuss and explore the interconnectedness of the body within the frame of health and illness to the landscape of long-term and short-term dwelling and ideas of home. Through fractured frames of home oppositional in landscape and environment, the collection discusses how the body functions and exists in health and unhealth and explores the reactions and processing of half-deaths involved in cancer, and specifically, stem cell transplants as treatment for terminal illnesses. More specifically, the cancerous body and healthy body are contrasted to one another and considered …

Maternal Health In The Context Of Social, Political, And Economic Change Among Hadzabe Foragers Of Tanzania, Kristen Herlosky

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Many low and middle-income countries have implemented new national policy measures aimed at reducing maternal morbidity and mortality due to globalized efforts to improve women’s maternal health. One of the main goals is to move childbirth into hospital facilities and improve health access and education outreach. For Indigenous communities around the world, these measures have fallen short of their goals. Indigenous women suffer from greater social, political, and economic disparities and inequalities, have poorer health indicators overall, and worse maternal health outcomes compared to their non-Indigenous counterparts. For small-scale communities, we have limited data on reproductive health among women, specifically …

An Exploration Of Popular Tenor Audition Arias And A Guide To Selecting Opera Audition Repertoire, Tung Kei Lam

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

A prevalent way to enter the opera industry in the 21st century is through participation in young artist programs (YAPs), which are stable and consistent employment opportunities designed by opera companies to train and nurture emerging talents. To be considered by such companies, each applicant goes through the audition process, which requires each applicant to submit an aria package. An aria package consists of four to five pieces that best display the applicant’s abilities and artistry. Based on Wolf Trap Opera’s aria frequency lists, I selected several popular audition arias and carried out an in-depth analysis. The analysis includes a …

Robert Starer And His Music, With A Focus On Solo Works For Trumpet, Allison Mcswain

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Composer Robert Starer was well-regarded in his lifetime but has fallen largely into obscurity. He had a unique and varied background that influenced his compositional style and musical philosophy, but except for his piano music, Starer’s works are largely unstudied. His musical style is complex and substantive, having been informed and influenced by his varied background, but the music is accessible to audiences and players of different levels. Additionally, his pieces allow much choice for the performer through the independence of the writing, free sections, musical accessory options, and performance alternatives, such as reordering movements or varied instrumentation options. This …

Kazimierz Serocki’S Trombone Concerto: Prominent Work In Post-War Poland, Dawid Mzyk

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The political factors of communism induced a deep delay in the progress of post-war Polish music, effectively inhibiting all trends geared toward its modernization. My research investigates the influence of the communist period on shaping the piece by giving insight into the socialist realism in post-war Poland. It also contributes to the understanding of performance techniques, the genesis of a prominent work, and the aesthetic impact political unrest had on the color and characteristics of Serocki’s Concerto for Trombone and Orchestra. Even though this piece has been performed by world renowned trombonists such as Christian Lindberg, Joseph Alessi (New York …

Polish Nationalism And The Flute Sonatina: The Influence Of Folklore On Inter-War Composers Tadeusz Kassern, Wojciech Kilar And Aleksander Tansman, Marta Plominska

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The music composed during World War II has been the subject of many concert programs in the classical music world. The music offers a poignant look into the human condition during a worldwide crisis and serves to capture the sentiments of the various cultures of the region during this time. One compelling musical perspective is from Polish nationals during WWII, who maintained a particularly fervent grasp on their national culture even while many were displaced and suppressed by the Nazi regime. This document will look at the flute compositions of three Polish nationals who wrote during this era, focusing on …

An Examination Of The Use Of Effects To Convey Narrative In Nikita Koshkin’S The Prince’S Toys Suite And Francis Kleynjans’ A L’Aube Du Dernier Jour, Michael Root

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Programmatic music conveys an extramusical narrative or idea. In pieces of this nature, it is common for a compositional device known as “tone-painting” to be used, in which elements of the narrative or idea the work is based on are reflected in the music. Sometimes this can be quite vivid, giving the impression of events occurring within a story. Examples of this imitative tone-painting can be referred to as “effects.”The guitar is capable of producing a great variety of sounds, and therefore many effects. After an introduction discussing the concept of effects and programmatic music, the author will give an …

Asian Culture In Western Music: Piano Music By Tan Dun And Bright Sheng, Guqi Zhang

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Chinese-American composers Tan Dun and Bright Sheng present culturally eclectic writing styles in their contemporary compositions by leveraging Chinese folk elements, which have gained them an international reputation. This paper examines folk music elements in Tan Dun’s and Bright Sheng’s piano works and their methods of incorporating them. Two main sources provide my methodological models. Locating East Asia in Western Art Music, a collection of essays that compares Asian-influenced Western composers and Western-influenced Asian composers, combines music theory, musicology, and ethnomusicology to explore how composers construct and utilize Eastern and Western musical concepts. Le Kang’s 2009 “The Development of Chinese …

Building A New Bridge: Justin Favela's Puente Nuevo, Kelley Yost

Theses

This thesis analyzes an installation work, Puente Nuevo, created in 2019 by artist Justin Favela at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. In this large-scale, piñata-like mural, Favela asserts his Latinx identity while questioning cultural stereotypes and viewer expectations with a sense of humor and irony. The unique materiality of Favela’s work, based in the folk art forms of papel picado and cartonería, transforms spaces into immersive environments that are fun and provocative, and capable of housing darker associations as well. He builds layers of meaning into his pieces by revising historic works, such as picturesque landscapes by Casimiro …

Finding The Circle In The Square: A Neoplatonic Interpretation Of Kazimir Malevich’S Black Square, Matthew Madison Rowe

Theses

This thesis explores the influence of Silver Age philosophers Vladimir Soloviev, Sergei Bulgakov, and Pavel Florensky on Kazimir Malevich’s Black Square. Malevich was among the first to apply Silver Age philosophy to abstract art, fully rejecting all objective representation in art. The thesis argues that Malevich’s Suprematism was the result of the fundamental antimony of the Russian religious worldview, which understands reality as both immanent and transcendent. This understanding of reality was not unique to Russia but was the result of historic influences, including the Neoplatonic and religious-humanist philosophy that was prevalent in Russian intellectual culture during this period. …